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Misleading Pat Robertson Op-Ed
GLAAD
The decision to reprint Robertson's essay raises serious questions about the Times' editorial policy, given that the paper chose to ignore Robertson's advocacy in its news pages -- where his claims could have and should have been analyzed and questioned -- earlier in the week when other media outlets were doing so. Also troubling is the fact that the Times allowed Robertson to repeat his speculative, factually questionable statements about the health of Supreme Court justices. The Times decision is particularly troubling given that on Wednesday, NBC's Today featured a segment where Robertson was confronted directly by Katie Couric about his claim that one sitting justice has cancer and another has a heart condition. Robertson's evasive answers and admission of personal speculation should have caused the Times to examine the accuracy of his claims before reprinting them. GLAAD also is troubled because, in a meeting held today with senior Times editors, Editorial Page Editor Janet Clayton said that the paper runs op-ed pieces that (a) are original pieces solicited by the Times, (b) exclusives to the Times, and (c) written by individuals who are not associated with advocacy organizations. Robertson's piece fails all three of these criteria. This type of editorial decision-making undermines the Times' credibility and continues the paper's trend of misrepresentative, problematic coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, including: problematic coverage of Pride events, inconsistent terminology and references in transgender coverage, and recent headlines that have implied that gay people are molesters and that sexually transmitted diseases are gay diseases. Although GLAAD acknowledges Robertson's right to submit re-packaged material from his Web site for publication in major newspapers, the Times' decision to offer Robertson a high-profile national platform for his homophobic prayer campaign should be questioned and challenged by its readers. At the very least, the "Times" should be holding Robertson's advocacy and claims -- religious or not -- to the same standards of accuracy and scrutiny that it does those of all other public figures. Take Action Now! Please write, e-mail or call the Los Angeles Times today. Let them know you disagree with their decision to open their op-ed pages to defamatory advocacy and unsubstantiated claims like Pat Robertson's. Let them know that you expect the Times to hold religious political activists like Pat Robertson as accountable for their comments as they would any other public figure. Also let them know that the large Los Angeles-area lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community deserves a paper that is inclusive and respectful of our lives, and ask that the Times commit to improving its coverage of our issues and our stories. Email or Reach by Phone: Janet Clayton Editorial Page Editor Los Angeles Times janet.clayton@latimes.com (213) 237-5000 Jamie Gold Readers Representative Los Angeles Times jamie.gold@latimes.com (877) 554-4000 |
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The Los Angeles Times allowed televangelist Pat Robertson to run an op-ed calling for Americans to pray for God to replace liberal members of the Supreme Court